Realizing My Why!

And Rebooting My Newsletter

If you’ve been wondering why you haven’t heard from me in awhile, well partly that’s because I’ve been quietly working away the past couple months focusing on finishing projects that I’ve been working on for over a year now and planning new projects.

But also, for some reason it seems that a lot of people were not receiving my emails. I’m hoping by switching to a new email publishing platform called Substack that there will be no problems with people receiving emails anymore.

If you receive this email, it would be great to hear from you! One of the cool features of Substack is the ability for readers to comment on newsletter posts. I always hoped my emails would become a vehicle for creating conversation, so hopefully Substack will be better for that.

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It’s 2 weeks until my birthday.

Approaching the age of 30 has me thinking a lot about my life (as I expect most people do when they hit a new decade). Frankly I’m not where I hoped to be in life by this age, but I am looking forward to the next stage in my life.

I spent my 20’s wondering a lot. I’ve always been very curious about life and the world. In grade 12 I read the whole encyclopedia collection in the school library. I’ve done a lot more reading since then. I’d like to say I’ve got everything figured out by now but instead of answers for everything I just find more questions.

But I think I finally figured something out: MY WHY.

There’s a quote by Mark Twain: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Ever since I listened to Simon Sinek TED talk about “Start With Why” over 10 years ago I’ve been on a search for what exactly my why is.

Over the years, my why has evolved from movies to community to insight. I really thought I had my why when I fell in love with the word “Insight” and crafted the motto “Start with Insight” six years ago back in 2016. Further more last year I created a newsletter and called it “Insight Club".

I thought my why was to find the answers and to share those insights.

But recently I’ve come to a realization.

I believe now my why is simply to wonder and share the questions. To stay curious and inspire other people’s curiosity. To invite people to dig deeper into life and look further for the answers themselves.

My new motto is “Awake With Wonder”.

To be “Awake With Wonder” is kind of a fancy way of saying “be curious”. I believe though when we live in a state of wonder we become more awake to the world. Curiosity is a powerful instinct and when we embrace it we live more fully present in the moment and become empowered by the knowledge we discover from curiosity.

Finding my why this time feels like truly finding myself.

And with this newfound clarity, I’m making changes.

That is why I have rebooted my newsletter with a new name to reflect my new why.

I’m looking forward to the next stage in my life, and I hope you will still be a part of it! Next month I have a lot more to share including a bunch of new videos and also a new business that I’m launching!

Stay curious!

-Zach

Question of the Day: Have you ever thought about your why? If you know your why feel free to share it!

Or just say hi! What’s new with you?